I’m getting a makeover! Well, not me, but the blog is getting a makeover – and it may be down for a bit after 7pmEST tonight. Hope you give the new look a thumbs up!Actually, I would like a real makeover – I’ve always wanted to go blond.

Question: If you got a free makeover what would you change about yourself? Anything? Nothing?

I packed something other than PB&J for lunch again today! This is a very tasty and fun challenge 🙂 I’m not making anything “new”, but it’s good to get back to some old favorites.

I made a HUGE salad with tons of veggies and beans for protein. I used my favorite TJ’s Peanut Dressing too.

I also had some Kashi crackers and 2 seltzers with lunch. I may or may not have had another seltzer later. I am an addict.

For dessert – 2 of my chocolate chip cookies 🙂 Dessert with lunch is so fun! But, these have to be microwaved to taste best the next day.

I brought a lot of fruit to snacks today – kiwi and grapes. I love fruit! I ate some more Kashis since fruit doesn’t keep me full for long.

Because I managed to bring the two smelliest lunch foods I could – cooked broccoli and egg salad! Ha. After the fact I realized that I stunk up the office. But, it tasted great! I prepped it all last night after dinner and took a pic then.

Stinky, but delicious egg salad made with 2 eggs, mayo, S&P and Lawry’s knock off. I would have done 1 egg and 1 egg white, but Ben made the hard boiled eggs and I lost most of the whites while peeling them. What is a tried and true trick to avoid this? I always flush them with cold water after I cook them. *I use light mayo not FF. I think FF is often full of sugary fillers to replace the fat, and tastes different.

Scared of the Flu? There has been so much talk about Swine Flu this year! It’s easy to be afraid with all the hype. Then, we have to worry about the regular old flu too! At least there are a few easy steps you can take to stay healthy – like keeping up your healthy eating habits and getting enough rest.

Question: Do you do anything extra to stay healthy during flu/cold season?

Me: I’ve never really done anything extra since I already get lots of fruits and rest in my life. But, I may do something extra since I will be living in the shitty Arctic tundra Maryland this flu season!

After a few cold dinners on the table Ben and I have declared 7pm Dinner Time. This way he knows when he should be home and I know when I will be eating dinner and can plan my snacks accordingly. I am thinking between 3 and 4pm is the best time for my afternoon snack so I’m hungry for dinner. Do you have a dinner time? I never had one before, but we’re trying this whole shack-up marriage thing and we want to eat dinner together 🙂 How cute.

In case you were wondering what I look like when I get home from work…I was trying to explain to friend that I look like I am coming home from a walk in the part – not work, when I get home. This is because I change out of nice, work clothes and put on walking clothes for my “commute” home 🙂

My afternoon snack was supposed to be this…but I ended up ditching the yogurt for a Kashi bar. It was good, but the yogurt would have been better 🙂

I also had some of these True North Nut Clusters. The company sent me over some samples of their goodies and this was the first one I opened. I have to say that they are delicious! And I sent some in Ben’s lunch last week and he came home asking about them, saying that he loved them! Two good reviews in one and we haven’t even tried the other samples 🙂

Here are the nutrition stats.

My only hesitation with buying these is that 5 clusters is a serving size. It’s hard for me to stop at 5! But if you pack them in your lunch it’s perfect. You get to enjoy the clusters and have portion control 🙂

Visit the True North website for a $1.00 off coupon! I will let ya know what I think about the other kinds too 🙂

Dinner was leftovers from Indian food on Saturday…

And I really really wanted dessert so I had a handful of chocolate chips before deciding to make cinnamon toast with chocolate chips! A little later I was craving hot chocolate and Ben reminded me that we bought chocolate in Guatemala that turned out to be for making (Mexican) Hot Chocolate! Have you ever had Abuelita? The best hot chocolate ever. You break off pieces of the chocolate bar and mix it with milk.

It is seasoned with cinnamon and other spices – it reminds me of my Aunt Martha since I rememeber her making this for me and my cousins 🙂Someone asked about the ingredients of my precious Pumpkin Butter…here are the stats…Cut the Crap – I have gotten a lot of emails about how my Cut the Crap Month seems to be hurting my Intuitive Eating. After much thought, I agree. As soon as I said I am not going to eat something my instinct is to eat it! It’s very frustrating, but years of restricting/binging has completely screwed up my head and body.

I feel like it is a complete cop out to say I am stopping my efforts to Cut the Crap 😦 So, I am going to continue to make an effort to eat foods that make me feel good and fuel me well! But, I am not going to restrict myself to x number of treats a week.

My small goals each week are building on eachother am I’m doing well with those so I’m going to continue

I am often asked for nutrition, diet and running advice. I take it very seriously when someone asks my advice. I know that the times in the past when I’ve asked others for advice I was really anxious for help. I started to think about the best advice that I’ve ever been given on this. I truly believe the best advice is not given with words, but shown by example. I heartily believe in leading by example and my favorite blogs are the ones by women and men who live a healthy, balanced life and don’t feel the need to apologize for or justify what they do.

I am still in the process of becoming an Intuitive Eater, so my choices are not always the best, but I do strive to live a balanced life – whatever that means for me. I am aiming for progress, not perfection and think I am making progress everyday. I try to lead by example 🙂 But, since my BFF has been asking for advice I’ve been very philosophical about quotes. Caitlin actually posted about quotes this morning and I started thinking about my favorite quotes! Then, I came across this one today on Twitter:

It’s funny how sometimes you come across exactly what you need to hear at just the right time! This is very motivating to me right now. I am trying my hardest to conquer my bad habit of tired/emotional/bored eating. This is just the mantra I need to repeat to myself when I am in that situation.

Question: Do you have a quote you tell yourself when you need motivation or have a problem?

Me: I’m going with the one above for now! But I also have a running quote I sometimes tell myself on long runs…

“All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you’re not good enough or strong enough or talented enough. They will say you’re the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. They will tell you No, a thousand times no, until all the no’s become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. And you will tell them Yes“

Now I need a good life in general quote! The search continues…

Lunch was boring! I really need to switch it up. But, after dinner when I make my sammie my sweet tooth is alert and all I want is something sweet so I end up making a sweet sandwich = PB&J. I’ve been thinking about eating a half a PB&J for a snack so I can enjoy more savory and filling food for lunch. I am now snacking on some pretzels because I feel hungry and I just ate lunch! I definitely need to pack something different for the rest of the week! I promise I am going to have something besides PB&J for the rest of the week!

In other exciting news I am taking 2 courses toward a Nutrition for Optimal Health and Wellness Certificate! They begin tomorrow! Yeah!

Ben and I went into DC today to sight see. It was the most gorgeous day! Love it!

We hit up the Natural History Museum and the Jefferson Memorial. The (ONE) thing I like about living in Maryland is having so many great museums and sights so close to us! I have always loved DC and am really going to try and see as much as I can while here 🙂

We stopped and got a Honey Crisp Apple. These are amazing – I wish they weren’t so expensive!

Lunch on the road…PB&J, carrots. I knew we would be eating out for dinner and didn’t want to do that for lunch too!

We went out for Indian Food for dinner. I love this stuff! We started with a mixed appetizer plate. It didn’t describe what the mixed appetizers were – turns out all the fried stuff 😦 The samosa was really good and I ate some of the other stuff too.

I ordered Chan Masala, Rice and Naan. The waiter served us each of the dishes as he brought them to the table. He insisted on putting some of Ben’s lamb on my plate. I tried to tell him I didn’t want any, but there was a language barrier and he insisted it was good. I took the pic and then gave it to Ben 🙂

I’m currently blogging and enjoying some TJ’s tart frozen yogurt with granola 🙂 Good night!This is not poop! Ben was eating trail mix in the car and dropped some chocolate chips on his seat. I guess they melted and then he sat in it 😦 We don’t know when it happened or how long he was walking around like this…

My brother just text me a pic of my cat sleeping and said he was sad and missed me 😦 Nothing like crying at work to make your co-workers think you’re unstable…Thanks Michael, thanks. Here are the perros for fun 🙂

And then at Lunch my camera died 😦 It won’t even turn on anymore! Boo. I am poor so a new camera is going to be rough. Ben has a cam I will use for now. I’m shopping around for a good one so let me know if you have any suggestions/good deals.

This pic is from my pimp phone. Sorry for the quality. I thought about not taking a pic and maybe that would mean the calories don’t count (like if you break a cookie in pieces the calories don’t count since they fall out). But, here it is anyways…Happy Friday despite my downer of a post! Someone (this girl) needs a drink!

I keep saying that I don’t want to eat yogurt and have been making myself eat it to make sure I’m getting enough protein. I think one of the reasons I don’t want it is because I don’t like plain yogurt! But – that’s the only kind I’ve been buying (from Costco, so I have a lot!). So, when I do eat yogurt I have to top it with something sweet like granola, cereals, other Crap I should be cutting back on.

I would be happy to eat this yogurt alone (or with a piece of fruit on the side). This is good stuff!

I made myself eat my packed plain yogurt with granola for a snack (I even added more toppings after I ate all the granola). But, tomorrow I am eating my fun yogurt 🙂

My lunch was a salad, grapes and PB&J. I love eating salads with lunch – this way I don’t have to worry about getting in so many veggies with dinner 🙂

I told Ben I eat my PB&J by taking it apart and eating one side at a time and he thought that was so weird! Ha!

Dinner: I had a very bad day of eating for dinner and snacks that I don’t really want to talk about – wow, that’s really unlike me! I think it’s a combo of desperation to lose weight and pressure from the blog I put on myself 😦

Now I’m watching QVC sell The Biggest Loser stuff – I am tempted to buy all of it and lose weight already damnit!!!

Question: Have you ever bought anything from TV? Infomercials? Home Shopping? QVC?

Me: My friend bought me a Snuggie for Christmas and I thought it was the funnest thing. I think part of the allure is that you see it on TV and you have one too!